Can I leave my van on hook up while I'm a away for a couple of weeks?

[Boswell Bear]

My Westfalia Amundsen has a CBE CB-516 charger with DS-300 Distribution Board charging both leisure and van batteries. Reading a online manual suggests this charger has 6 phases Desulphation, Bulk, Absorption, Float, Standby and Refresh, does this mean it's OK to leave it plugged in while I'm away for a couple weeks to keep all the batteries maintained?
The leisure batteries are AGM and I believe the van battery is a Exide E-1100 110 A/H 850-CAA would this be an issue if the charger is set to AGM?

​

 

[Landy Andy]

My van is on 240v permanently when not being used.

 

[Brains]

For the sake of an outlay of about £3, go an buy a simple time clock, like you use on Xmas tree lights.
That way it will only charge for one hour a day (or whatever you set it to)

Get a £10 time clock that does days of the week, and it may be better to 4-6 hours one day of the week.

 

[Landy Andy]

I’ve know plenty of £3 time clocks not to work.

 

[Brains]

I’ve know plenty of £3 time clocks not to work.

Splash out!
Get a £5 one!

I have about a dozen in use at any one time, they do fail eventually, but that is measured in years.
If the ticking gets really noisy, I replace them, but even the cheap ones will last 3-4 years of constant use.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Gerry77]

That’s what I do. Set timer for two hours during nighttime cheap electricity!

 

[Boswell Bear]

That’s what I do. Set timer for two hours during nighttime cheap electricity!

Good shout, I’m on an EV tariff.

 

[Landy Andy]

Splash out!
Get a £5 one!

I have about a dozen in use at any one time, they do fail eventually, but that is measured in years.
If the ticking gets really noisy, I replace them, but even the cheap ones will last 3-4 years of constant use.

Why. Just leave it plugged in and the charger will do what it’s designed to do.

Wife bought two timers for Xmas. Both failed. One didn’t even last one rotation.

 

[barryd]

Never leave mine plugged in or the old van. Never seemed to cause an issue although to be fair both the old van and the new one have solar. Surely it would be fine for a couple of weeks.

 

[POH]

I have the TP plug in timers that you can set to whatever time you want or you can set from your phone from anywhere via your data or WiFi also have them to turn the lights on/off better that the clockwork ones.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[nicholsong]

Remeber toturn off the 12v circuit as that is more likely to be a fire risk. I try to remember to do that every time we leave the MH unattended. It is off now even in our yard.

 

[Richard n Ann]

Get a low powered maintainer like optimate duo 1. It's not powerful enough to ever cause a problem, you can leave it on 24/7 and relax

 

[rambo]

fit a shut of switch at battery then the battery wont drain or disconect while not useing van

 

[AdrianChen]

My Westfalia Amundsen has a CBE CB-516 charger with DS-300 Distribution Board charging both leisure and van batteries. Reading a online manual suggests this charger has 6 phases Desulphation, Bulk, Absorption, Float, Standby and Refresh, does this mean it's OK to leave it plugged in while I'm away for a couple weeks to keep all the batteries maintained?
The leisure batteries are AGM and I believe the van battery is a Exide E-1100 110 A/H 850-CAA would this be an issue if the charger is set to AGM?

​

Should be fine - The cbe-516 charger will shut off after 15h on float, and will re-start when the battery drops a little below 13v for 1hr on bulk so once charged it maintains the battery at around 13v. AFAIK if the main panel is left on then the start battery will trickle charge whenever the leisure battery hits 13.5v.

The start battery will get a higher voltage than ideal from the CBE, but its for relatively short periods and has been getting that treatment whenever your using the van on hookup, so should be OK as well. You could isolate the start battery I suppose, but that would also turn off any alarm and tracker.

 

[denisejoe]

Remeber toturn off the 12v circuit as that is more likely to be a fire risk. I try to remember to do that every time we leave the MH unattended. It is off now even in our yard.

Switching off 12v power will drain any water left in the van as it will open the frost protection valve

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Abgs]

I have the TP plug in timers that you can set to whatever time you want or you can set from your phone from anywhere via your data or WiFi also have them to turn the lights on/off better that the clockwork ones.

These … we have for the van charger. Has been working faultlessly for the last four years. About a tenner from Screwfix I think.